"So this is the limit of compression, huh."

  Level 417, that's his current level and he hasn't been able to compress any further.

  "Something's strange, if dragons just compressed their level, they wouldn't be so dangerous. Something's missing, but what?"

  As Lawrence ponders, Coldness Divine watches him from a distance.

  'This human, what is he doing? Why do I feel so uneasy?'

  Deep within her lies a need to uncover Lawrence's actions, her instincts urge her to keep watching him for fear of missing something important.

  "What's this? Mana? No, it's different."

  After the compression, Lawrence has just discovered remnants of his former self, which remain within him without finding a way to fit, like leftover puzzle pieces.

  "Can these be compressed?"

  The technique taught to him by Celestial Firmament is much deeper than he originally believed. It's not about mana cycles, but what that cycle does in his body.

  In his mind, Lawrence gathers the remnants, but quickly discovers their incompatibility. He then begins to split them into smaller pieces to try to fit the pieces together. Slowly, the pieces begin to join into different groups, multicolored spheres each with a different aura.

  "Compress!"

  The spheres decrease in size, their color mixing to form pure white. As soon as this happens, his body absorbs them with euphoria, without Lawrence being part of this process.

  His body temperature rises, he feels a deep heat within. Pain soon follows, internal injuries begin to form from overexertion.

  He uses his sacred magic and the wounds heal visibly, but instantly reopen. His will almost wavered, the internal pain mercilessly attacking his mind. Until at some point, the process finishes.

  The wounds completely close, this time without reopening.

  "What did you do, human? Answer!"

  Coldness Divine suddenly appears beside him and asks, "How is it possible that your mana reserve has increased in just a few seconds?"

  Those remnants, when compressed, improved segments of his body that are not reted to strength but are intertwined with it.

  One of them is his mana reserve, which increased by 40% compared to a human of the same level. Also, his muscle resistance, concentration, senses, a myriad of segments have been enhanced in this compression.

  Lawrence has no time to rejoice, he wisely uses this moment to replicate the words Celestial Firmament manifested to him.

  "The original w stops time, but not in the one we find ourselves in."

  She holds her breath, this phrase has such a deep meaning that her heart beats rapidly, something is calling her.

  "What do you mean?"

  "We have never managed to leave the origin, the ws exist."

  Coldness Divine takes two steps back, her mind in chaos. For a second she was able to feel the alteration in this reality, strange elements that should not exist, but that she internally knows have always been there.

  "Sit down, let's talk."

  "..."

  Obediently, she sits in the chair next to him, while she watches the fish move, listening to words that shake her being. The more she listens to Lawrence, the more the alteration of the world manifests with more calm and more time.

  After returning to her senses, she feels changes in her body.

  "My dragon inheritance has developed... the change is small, but this tiny variation has made me capable of sensing something I never thought existed."

  For a moment she was able to see the flow of ws of this world and how her body has used them unconsciously, if she can manipute them at will, this will change everything!

  Faced with this, Lawrence strives not to change his expression. 'What is this woman saying? Did my babblings make sense?'

  "Human, you are welcome to my home. As long as you don't overdo it, I allow you to be my guest."

  For the first time since he became the dao protector of Coldness Divine, she bid him farewell. Her sincerity is such that Lawrence is sure that tomorrow his greeting will be returned in the same way.

  "I finally managed to break through that barrier that divided us, as long as I continue replicating the words of Celestial Firmament, Coldness Divine will fall before me!"

  In their conversation, Lawrence did not reproduce his words verbatim, just the fragments he remembered he somehow joined together. Even so, this cheap copy gave Coldness Divine infinite gains.

  Her talent and dragon blood pyed a big role in her understanding.

  In his joy for the great advance in their retionship, Lawrence decides to take a different path. One that has the most beautiful flowers of the pce and the greatest affection of the birds, only here can you hear them sing so clearly.

  The path at some point disappears, but there is still the trace of the people who have traveled through the pce and Lawrence follows it.

  "I have been waiting a long time for you to choose this path."

  A female voice is heard, after the rustling of the pnts, a woman with emerald hair appears from between the trees.

  Upon seeing her, he says: "Do we know each other?"

  Lawrence would remember such a beautiful woman, who although does not have a curvy body like Serene Will, her delicate and fragile aura makes him feel that applying too much force on her might break her. Like a fairy.

  "You do not know me, but I have heard of you."

  Until now he has spoken with a polite tone of voice and a decent look, no matter if the woman before him is a prostitute or a client, he must maintain his appearance as the only dao protector that is a user of sacred magic.

  "Lawrence, I know you're the reason for Serene Will's disappearance."

  That's why when she mentioned having heard of him, he knew this topic would be brought up.

  "Apparently, you haven't heard the test rumors. Actually, the names and appearances were different from the initial rumor, it has already been discovered that this was a deception to mislead. I was implicated wrongly, she didn't even--"

  The woman interrupts him, "You hid magic artifacts hundreds of meters underground and changed the dao protector so that the responsibilities wouldn't fall on you. After this, the first day of rain would be the signal to kill him and meet again. You waited for her in the forest, arriving there with a bamboo sword. When she arrived, you sent her through a Dimensional Rift to the Inferior Pne and flew back on your sword while that woman was still unconscious."

  Lawrence looks at her in silence and then clenches his teeth. 'I must kill this woman, she knows too much!'

  He looks around, but is interrupted once more by that woman.

  "If you are worried that I have accomplices, there are none, I am alone."

  "Who are you?"

  "I am Sky Petal, although I'm sure you weren't asking for my name. You must want to know how I acquired this information, right?"

  Sky Petal smiles kindly, which infuriates Lawrence even more.

  "I can talk to pnts, they witnessed everything and told me."

  Lawrence wouldn't have believed her if he hadn't previously met Celestial Firmament, that dragon attacked him at the request of nature, it wouldn't be strange that there exists an ability that allows speaking with it.

  "How long have you been in this pce?"

  She responds without hesitation, "A few more weeks and it will be a year."

  'Damn it! The record book will not keep information about her until she is suitable to have a dao protector, until then, I won't know if she's telling the truth!'

  After seeing the dilemma Lawrence is in, Sky Petal expins what she's willing to concede. "I will agree to be your wife as you did with Serene Will, I'll be yours in exchange for you allowing me to travel the world freely."

  He scoffs internally. 'Ha! That woman betrayed me the moment I took my eyes off her, Serene Will isn't even close to being a good example.'

  The story sounds too good to be true. A woman willing to be someone's possession in exchange for freedom of movement? Lawrence knows this woman is pnning something, nothing is as simple as it seems.

  Although it is true that the contract these women sign to work here states that upon resigning they are prohibited from leaving the Heavenly Path Kingdom, even so...

  "I will tell you a secret that no one else knows about me, hoping you will trust my words."

  Lawrence watches her cautiously, but is surprised by the situation that occurs before his eyes. Suddenly Sky Petal's body glows and changes shape, in the following seconds the glow diminishes showing her true appearance.

  "Y- You're a flower?! Are you a flower that acquired wisdom?!"

  A beautiful flower with seven white petals is positioned in the same pce where Sky Petal previously was. Its stem and leaves appear ordinary at first gnce, but up close it is possible to observe extraordinary patterns.

  "That's right. For a thousand years I was at the top of a waterfall, hundreds of demonic beasts tried to cross its waters, but all their life was consumed by introducing their bodies into it. On a rock, my roots burst into the deepest part of the waterfall, where life still flourished."

  Sky Petal in flower form continues expining her thousand years of acquiring wisdom, where her body was damaged countless times by the spshing drops, absorbing her life, but her roots restored it no matter how many years passed.

  "At some point I gained consciousness of myself, at that moment I achieved my human form."

  The glow surrounds her flower body and in the seconds following returns to her human appearance, with her characteristic kind smile that so displeases Lawrence.

  "I am not human, my thinking is different from yours and others. You can trust my word, because what you treasure, I may not necessarily treasure."

  "Is that all you desire?"

  "More than anything in the world."

  He narrows his eyes as he thinks. 'If some of those stupid dao protectors were in my pce, they would trust more than one of her words. In my case? I distrust everyone who offers me benefits!'

  In this world, the w of the jungle prevails. If you are strong, why negotiate? Simply unsheathe your sword and favorable conditions will rain down. Enemies? You'll get them no matter what you do, because the happier you are, the more they will want your position.

  After thinking for a few seconds, he says: "Give me time to think. A month at the minimum."

  This woman holds information of utmost importance, Lawrence cannot risk causing distrust. He directly agreed to help her, to keep her quiet until he finds a solution.

  'Killing her here is too risky, I will have to do it in the Inferior Pne.'

  Sky Petal looks at him and blinks with curiosity, the contract progressed more easily than expected. She anticipated that Lawrence would impose some restrictions on her, but none of that happened.

  "A month it will be, I will be waiting for you."

  "By the way..."

  What he will do next is risky, but if on the remote chance this woman is telling the truth... there must be some way to verify it. Depending on her reaction, not necessarily murder will be the answer.

  This is the best method to know her personality, her innermost thoughts.

  "You know of my preferences, don't you?"

  "Yes, I know all of them."

  Her calmness irritates him even more, but he does not dare to show it on his face. Lawrence brings his face close to hers and kisses her.

  After parting their lips, she maintains her smile. There was no rejection on her part.

  "Turn around."

  He will have to continue until the end, not missing any of her expressions.

  She positions her hands on a tree and raises her hips, deducing the meaning in Lawrence's words.